Ghosts of Transparency [book]

Michael R. Doyle, Selena Savić, Vera Bühlmann
2019 unpublished
1880 . GHOSTS OF TRANSPARENCY INTRODuCTION The following text is an excerpt from the doctoral thesis entitled Towards Communication in CAAD: Spectral Characterization and Modelling with Conjugate Symbolic Domains defended at ETH Zurich in 2017 and awarded with ETH 's medal of distinction. The thesis investigates computational models in architecture, a topic usually studied in the field of Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD). Its motivation comes from the author 's ever-growing concern
more » ... h the field 's lack of self-reflection and interest to orientate and position itself within the larger context of mathematical and computational modelling. This brings about a general hypothesis that this lack of interest to explore outside of one 's field of expertise (often introduced with disciplinarization of computation within a field) might be preventing the field of CAAD from broadening its research domain towards directions that have been successfully explored for a long time in information technology and science. Finally, to show that such a seemingly non-pragmatic effort has an actual research potential, the thesis committed itself to challenge the existing computational models in architecture with contemporary modelling approaches, characteristic for quantum physics, in which computation is regarded from the perspective of communication between different domains of a problem. The challenge was actualized in the last part of the work by introducing a new communication-inspired model and applying it in an architectural experiment. The work engages with an unusually extensive body of knowledge with the aim of providing additional angles to its principal research domain: computational models in architecture. This body of knowledge involves early analytic philosophy, computability and probability theory, formal logic, quantum physics, abstract algebra, computer-aided design, computer graphics, glossematics, machine learning and architecture. However, the reason for such a comprehensive approach and perhaps radical gesture is not to claim any expertise nor mastery over the aforementioned fields of knowledge. To the contrary, it is a matter of methodology, aiming to operate in a more architectural manner, without losing the necessary rigour and consistency required of an academic work. The first part of the work begins in the 19th century, delves into the body of thinking from which computation emerged and traces two general attitudes towards mathematical modelling, which will each eventually lead to different interpretations of computation. The first one, described as the logicist tradition, saw the potential of formal, mechanized reasoning in the possibility of constructing the absolute foundation of mathematics, its means of explanation and proof. The second one, the algebraist tradition, regarded formalization within a larger scope of modeltheoretical procedures, characterized by creatively applying abstraction towards a certain goal. The second attitude proved to be a fertile ground for the redefinition of both mathematics and science, thus paving a way
doi:10.1515/9783035619171 fatcat:6irfzh6ycvhfzmhyfa7ncegzym